


Hands in the Sky

by blairdrof



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-04
Updated: 2013-03-27
Packaged: 2017-11-20 06:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/582181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blairdrof/pseuds/blairdrof
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Katniss loses all hope of surviving the Games, she decides that extreme circumstances call for extreme measures, and she finds that one person in her group of forsaken allies will shift her world on its axis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: everything until the moment after Rue's death and right before the change in game rules remains the same as in both the books and the film.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games trilogy or its characters. It all belongs to Suzanne Collins. I am just merely writing for my own entertainment. Also, I don't own the title to this story either, I've simply borrowed it from the title to a Straylight Run song: "Hands in the Sky (Big Shot)".

**Prologue**

Despair. The only thing Katniss felt was despair.

It was  _everywhere_. In everything she  _saw_ , in everything she  _heard_ , in everything she  _touched_...even in the enticing scent the flowers had left in her calloused fingers. It surrounded her. The blow inflicted by losing Rue was almost harder than hearing Prim's name called out at the Reaping.

Once the adrenaline rush of retaliating against the boy from One and giving Rue as proper a funeral as manageable on the arena had worn off, despair was all that had flooded her senses. She finally felt the pain of exertion straining her muscles as she slumped down against a fallen tree bark. The colors of the trees and clear sky now seemed much duller, as if they had been evenly blanketed by a fine sheet of translucent grey fabric casting monotonous shadows upon every surface. The sounds of the forest around her now felt almost foreign to her ears, as if all that would be familiar ever again were Rue's delicate song, and the desperate voices of every other tribute fighting for their life in the arena, incapable of waiting for the future to plague her nightmares. The sweet scent of the flowers-which still lingered on her skin-quickly gave way to the fresh forest air, only to be replaced by the sickening smell of rotting corpses. She knew the disturbing smell was only in her mind, for the hovercrafts didn't leave the bodies in the arena long enough for the remaining tributes to witness their decomposition.

Despair was all she knew then. She had seen other tributes slaughtered upon her first day in the games, yet Rue's death had been the first time she had experienced a deep sense of loss. She couldn't help but wonder the same thing she had wondered out loud with Gale so many times before: what was the point of all of  _this_? The unspoken motive of the Capitol was to keep a tight leash over the Districts, keep them from rebelling again, she  _knew_  that; but what danger could a bunch of mostly undernourished  _teenagers_  pose to the blurry political entity that the entirety of the Capitol represented? If they wanted to have full control over the Districts, why not use all the money they spent on the games on weaponry and Capitol security instead?

No. The games were more than the mutual massacre of fear-ridden teenagers. As much as she had hated the boy from One mere minutes before, she now felt deeply sorry for his unnecessary death, for all the deaths that had taken place so far, not only in this games, but in all of them. As much as she had despised him for being the one to end Rue's life, she understood that what he had done was the exact same thing they were  _all_  supposed to be doing. It was kill or be killed, and she found that she could no longer blame any of the other tributes for each other's deaths. No. The games were just a cleverly cunning façade for the Capitol to reduce the number of people they controlled without actually eliminating their sources of wealth. It was so much larger than that. It was all so much larger than brutally murdering a group of kids: it was a concealed genocide carried out in the slowest way possible.

It was when she took the first bite from the bread she had received from District 11 that it clicked inside her. It was as if in one split second, her mind connected all the dots and pieces of information she had either stored carefully in her memory or dismissed without second thought. Her thoughts immediately prior to that moment, her conversations with Gale about the games, her final understanding of Peeta's words the night before the games began, the alliances on the arena, the loaf of bread from District 11 in honor of Rue...suddenly, it all made sense to her, and for a brief moment, she simply sat high on the tree branch with halfway chewed bread in her mouth and her jaw hanging open.

The bread from District 11. She finished chewing on that first bite and swallowed it slowly as she stared at the large remnants of the loaf in her hands thoughtfully. She knew the price had been too high, but she now realized that Rue's death might just give her  _exactly_  what she wanted.

 


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Alright, so, I had to give Foxface a name. And I wanted all the girls to have names that derived from flowers in some way, so I did some research in order to find a flower or plant that would accurately represent Foxface's most prominent character traits (intelligence, wisdom, reason), and I found one that fit that description perfectly and added a few other characteristics that would be appropriate for her personality in this story (creative, imaginative). The name I've chosen for her is revealed further down in this chapter, but feel free to express your thoughts and feelings on it via review or message.

**Chapter 1**

  
_"_ _Oh, can't anybody see, we've got a war to fight, never found our way, regardless of what they say."_  


"Roads" - Portishead

Even though she seemed to be entirely inactive sitting on that tree gazing off some nonexistent point, her mind was racing like it hadn't been in a very long time, and she felt more hopeful and energized than she had felt since around the time her father had died. Perhaps she was simply delusional. She was sure that being in her situation -and surviving, of course- for an extended period of time could do that to a person. Perhaps she had acquired a false sense of self-attributed grandeur that was completely uncalled for. But no matter her current situation, she couldn't stop the flicker of hope that accompanied her jumbled thoughts as she organized and cataloged every single one. She would start a  _rebellion_.

Sure, it may sound absolutely insane, and if she were to voice this thought out loud people would  _surely_  think she was off her rocker, but she knew it was possible. Katniss could explain it simply, really.

First of all, she knew Gale was right. If people didn't watch, there would be no games. But in order to make people not watch, there should be no tributes and no deaths. Since  _that_  was to be the beginning of her rebellion plan, she figured it would be the hardest thing to achieve. She didn't want to kill anyone else. She had  _never_  wanted to kill anyone in the first place, and she had certainly not wanted any of these other kids to die at each other's hands either. But she would have to somehow instill that same refusal to kill in the remaining tributes, and that could cost her her life, thus rendering the whole operation moot.

However -and secondly-, she recalled Peeta's words the night before the games. It had taken Rue dying for her to finally grasp their true meaning, but now she wanted to take it a step further. What if Peeta and herself were not the only ones who refused to let the Capitol turn them into something they were not? What if they weren't the only ones who refused to kill doomed teenagers just for the sake of offering an entertaining show to the government and the ignorant souls that inhabited the Capitol? You can't play chess if there are no pieces on the board, right? She knew Peeta would readily agree with her. And she knew that, given the chance -and the time, because it could take a while-, both Thresh and Foxface could be convinced of not being active pieces in the games any longer. Cato and the girl from Two, on the other hand...they would be much harder to convince. Actually, Cato  _would_  take time, but even if he had proven to be quite a brute with  _severe_  blood thirst, he would eventually cave in. And the girl from Two...well, Katniss wasn't sure  _what_  to make of the other girl, since she was incredibly hard to read.

They were all already dead anyway, weren't they? So they wouldn't exactly be risking anything if all the tributes refused to be movable pieces in the Capitol's mind games. And if the Capitol decided to let them all starve for it, at least they would die with a free conscience.

Then there was the fact that alliances formed on the arena every single year, and this year was no different. The careers had stuck together until now -even if their numbers had dwindled down considerably-, and Katniss herself had teamed up with Rue until -well, until earlier that day. They were all in the same situation, so it wasn't exactly out of the realm of possibility for the remaining tributes to form one single alliance -not against each other, but against the Capitol- make a statement. Katniss figured that -since she knew people all over Panem were watching the games- if they were to do that, the districts could form even larger alliances despite their differences and take a stand against the system. The loaf of bread she had just received from District 11 was very much distinct, irrefutable proof that it was possible for two or more districts to become allies.

Every district was in the same situation. Yes, some of them faired better than others -especially better than those in the same situation as her own-, but, ultimately, they were all under the heavy hand of the Capitol. They were all feeling the pull of the strings by the puppeteer in one way or another: be it from insufficient goods to feed their inhabitants, or from being held by a tighter noose the better the politics seemed. She knew. She just  _knew_  that they all felt that almost imperceptible spark of hope that stemmed from a shared goal: freedom from the Capitol.

As she thought of all of this, Katniss packed what was left of the bread neatly and shoved it into her backpack. And as she secured the rope tied tight around her waist with thoughts of drifting into a peaceful -yet light, for she  _still_  needed to be alert- slumber that would hopefully erase the gruesome images from that day still embedded in her brain, she felt her face be faintly illuminated by a bluish glow right before the anthem played. Her eyes rose to the display in the dark night sky, currently showing a picture of the boy from One, and then, with as much grace as she could muster, she didn't hesitate to pull the bread back out of her backpack and raise it towards the sky as Rue's young face stared back at her. It was her way of paying her respects to the sweet girl, and even though she would have preferred for Rue's delicate song to be the background music -rather than Panem's blatantly hypocritical anthem-, she wanted Rue to know -wherever she was now, looking upon her- that it had been an honor to have met and shared those moments with her, even if only briefly.

The anthem soon finished and the lights playing on the sky vanished. And with thoughts of Rue collecting wild flowers and singing along with mockingjays, she finally drifted off into dreamland.

* * *

When she awoke the following morning, Katniss surveyed her surroundings with a careful eye from atop the tree. Everything seemed to be as she had left it, so she decided to get an early start and go look for Peeta. Finding him wouldn't be hard if he was as severely injured as she had heard he was, so despite needing to find him as soon as possible, she still kept her senses alert for any little animal that could become her next meal. Besides, she knew that Peeta wouldn't have been able to feed himself if his injury was bad enough -there are only so many edible berries one can find when being rooted to one same spot for a long time.

She treaded slowly towards the river -because that was where Rue had said Peeta was-, camouflaged by bushes and even taller foliage a few feet away from the rocks that lined the riverbank. Although she considered herself lucky to be carrying not one, but  _three_  squirrels as she moved soundlessly over the seemingly endless bed of pine needles that blanketed the earth surrounding the trees, she felt even more fortunate when she spotted traces of blood. She looked around her until her eyes fell upon a large, and very much noticeable red stain on a rock, sickeningly glimmering under the harsh sunlight, and knew that was the path that would lead her to Peeta.

However, before she could step out of the concealment offered by the canopy, Katniss saw a flash of stark orange hair dart towards the riverbank. She crouched behind the closest bush merely out of reflex, and wearily watched Foxface fill up her canteen calmly. She briefly wondered whether the redhead had finished Peeta off -since she was sure that he was  _definitely_  somewhere nearby-, yet she quickly dismissed the thought, given: that if Peeta were dead, she would have heard the canon go off, that -from what she had gathered, Foxface wasn't exactly the murderous type-, and that even if she  _were_ , Katniss knew the girl to be too smart to be so careless about her surroundings right after killing someone. So she concluded that Foxface had no idea of her proximity to the wounded boy, or to Katniss herself.

It then occurred to Katniss that this was the perfect opportunity to approach Foxface and relay her thoughts in the hopes of allying with her. Thus, she pulled out her bow -just in case-, but didn't load an arrow, and promptly came out of her hiding spot to pad silently towards the oblivious redhead. Once she was within speaking distance -but far enough to prevent any unwanted reactions-, she made her presence known.

"Don't move," she warned, tone cold and calculating, and watched the redhead stiffen in involuntary compliance. Somewhat reassured that Foxface wouldn't spring a surprise attack on her, she went on, eyes never leaving the back of the other girl's head, "I'm not going to hurt you," she assured, even though her senses were in full alert in case she actually needed to, "I just want to talk," she added vaguely, taking a measured step closer to the crouched body by the riverbank.

In turn, Foxface slowly turned around to face her with wide eyes and her hand wrapped both limply and too strongly around her recently filled canteen. The redhead remained completely mute for a moment, simply glancing back and forth between Katniss's face and her bow, and -noticing her clear position of disadvantage- ever-so-slowly screwed the cap back on her canteen before letting it drop next to her, its clutter against the moist rock sounding much louder than it actually was in the empty shore. She looked at Katniss intently, her brain rapidly examining and analyzing what the brunette's words and expression meant, and then nodded cautiously, "Okay."

Katniss stayed momentarily silent, and decided that the redhead's reply sounded compliant enough. Her eyes followed Foxface's frame as the girl lowered herself once again to sit gracefully on the rock below her feet, her attention entirely centered on the brunette's face expectantly, "I'm all ears," she said softly. Katniss merely blinked at her. Before advancing any further with the unexpected -yet welcomed? She wasn't sure yet- encounter, she went through every possible reason for the redhead's behavior in her head. Either she was afraid of what Katniss could do to her and thus treaded carefully, or she was far more cunning than she had given her credit for and was waiting for the right moment to stab her in the back,  _or_  she was actually genuinely innocent and interested in whatever Katniss was to tell her.

The brunette settled on the latter for several reasons: she could argue that Foxface was  _not_  a killer -otherwise, Katniss would have been dead within that one first encounter during the bloodbath-, and she knew that the redhead was smarter than the majority of the tributes -if not smarter than them all-, and thus would be open to suggestions on how to survive this -even if only for a bit longer. But what truly solidified her sense of safety in the other girl's presence was the fact that, ultimately, neither of them had  _chosen_  to be there, forced to kill or be killed; neither of them wished to harm anyone, they were merely victims of the system, so Foxface deserved the benefit of the doubt, for she had never done anything to harm Katniss or anyone else so far.

Feeling some of the tension drain from her shoulders, Katniss lowered her bow and took a few steps forward to sit on the ground in front of the other girl. This was supposed to be the first step of her plan, yet she didn't know how to approach the subject -least of all how to evade the omniscient eyes of the Gamemakers in the arena, since their death would be definitely guaranteed if the Capitol were to find out about any of it. She had wished to find the remaining tributes and talk to them -if possible-, yet she hadn't expected to run into anyone other than Peeta so soon after coming up with the idea. She knew that if Peeta were there, it would certainly be much easier for him to convince Foxface of anything - _he_  was the sociable person, not  _her_.

But, she figured, Foxface was a  _girl_ , just like she was -thrown into this tragedy against her will and probably scared for her life-, so the best thing was to break the ice first. Pursing her lips, rather uncomfortable under the redhead's scrutiny as her eyes were unwaveringly fixed on her rather stoic features, she set the bow down next to her casually and folded her hands awkwardly across her lap. She attempted a small smile, if only to soothe the other girl's worries, yet she knew it probably came across as a grimace or any other expression unpleasant to the eye. Despite her failed efforts, she was glad to see the redhead smile back at her almost shyly, and that was all the prompting she needed to start talking again.

"Are you hungry?" Katniss asked, trying to sound as friendly as possible. Okay, so maybe  _that_  wasn't the most ideal thing to say, but it was all she could come up with in such short notice without blurting out her every thought. When Foxface just stared at her, she cleared her throat, "I'm sorry. I'm not very good at-"

" _Talking_?" Foxface finished for her, the hint of a sly smile playing upon her lips, and Katniss found herself getting more comfortable despite her nature to doubt everything and everyone. "That's alright. I'm not adept at socializing either," the redhead shrugged nonchalantly, "but it honestly feels good to use my voice again. I was beginning to think my vocal cords would get rusty enough to deprive me of speech  _entirely_ ," she explained in one single, nervous breath.

To Katniss, that was one of the weirdest statements she had heard in her life, yet she dismissed the thought and engaged in the conversation, "That's some impressive vocabulary," she complimented lamely, and then it hit her again like a ton of bricks. She came to her senses and remembered exactly  _where_  they were and  _why_ , and the tension returned to tighten every muscle in her body.

"Thanks," Foxface replied with a slight tilt of her head, but she seemed to notice the change in the brunette's countenance, for her face fell, and her voice took a grim tone, "I'm sorry," she said, and the sincerity in her words was almost palpable to Katniss, "about Rue," she clarified, lowering her gaze. Katniss stared at the ground for a moment, willing her tear ducts to remain dry, "Thank you," she whispered.

"I  _saw_  it," the redhead continued, voice serene and even, and Katniss raised her gaze to meet green eyes in slight confusion, "I mean, what you did for her, when she-" she stopped abruptly before smiling widely at the brunette, a mask of melancholy taking over her features, "that was sweet, and noble. It says a lot about the kind of person you are," Foxface finished, and a sense of relief washed over Katniss upon hearing those words, because now she knew that, even if her approach hadn't inspired trust on the other girl, her goodbye to Rue had more than demonstrated her intentions without her even knowing so, thus obliterating any suspicions the redhead could have possibly had about the brunette's reasons to approach her.

The comment, however, also convinced Katniss of the fact that, considering her stealthy nature, the redhead had probably witnessed more than any of them. She definitely had a habit of following everyone unnoticed. "What else have you seen?" she inquired, truly curious as to what information Foxface could have gathered about them all.

Foxface pulled out half an apple from her own backpack and took a large bite before replying amidst a mouthful, "Well, I haven't seen Thresh since the beginning, because he ran off into the field and no one followed him," she rolled her eyes casually as she remembered each tribute and went on, "Cato and Clove have been wandering around alone, but they stopped actively hunting tributes after Marvel...  _left_ ," she shifted uncomfortably against the rock and swallowed the apple in her mouth. She had already opened her mouth to go on speaking when Katniss interrupted her with a sharp shake of her head.

"Wait, wait, wait!" the brunette held up a hand, a faint frown ghosting across her brows, " _Who_  are Clove and Marvel?" she demanded curiously, but instantly felt her cheeks flush awkwardly as she explained herself, "I mean, I don't know everyone's names. I don't even know  _your_  name."

After blinking at Katniss in understanding, the redhead nodded and sank her teeth in the apple once again, "Marvel was the boy from District One. And Clove is the girl from District Two," she elucidated as she watched Katniss intently, while the brunette's eyes widened in recognition as she realized she had just learned the name of her first kill. She felt guilt crash on her like a tidal wave, oppressing her chest with a dull ache and making it harder to breathe; she needed to lead her thoughts away from Marvel, otherwise, she was as good as dead, so she forced herself to ask, "What about-"

" _Peeta_?" Foxface finished for her for the second time that day, this time accompanying her tone with a raised eyebrow. Upon seeing the brunette's silent nod in response, she heaved a sigh, "Cato injured him really badly with his sword a couple of nights ago," she began, her lips pursing to the side in a grimace, "I checked on him yesterday, because he could barely walk, but I haven't seen him since, so I don't know where he is or if he's alright at all. I'm sorry," she added apologetically.

"I was looking for him," Katniss began, gaze lowered as she spoke, absently picking at random strands of grass. Foxface stayed silent, waiting for the brunette to go on, until Katniss looked up at her, worry etched all over her features, "and then I ran into you, and I thought-"

"-that I'd  _killed_  him?" the redhead interrupted once again with a snort. A part of Katniss wanted to be mad at Foxface for that rather annoying habit of hers, but the tinge of disappointment in the redhead's voice hadn't gone unnoticed, so Katniss decided not to mention it. Foxface shook her head as she rose to her feet, "If I had, you'd have heard the canon," she said simply before thrusting her hand right in front of the brunette's face -a silent offer to help her up-, and then elaborated, "I don't know about you, but to me, survival comes  _first_ , and everything else comes after," she tilted her head with a sly smirk, "can't hurt or slow someone else down if you're  _dead_ , now can you?" she asked rhetorically with a subtle raise of her eyebrow as Katniss gripped the hand proffered to her and pulled herself up.

Although she couldn't obviate the implication of purposely injuring someone -Katniss found it interesting yet completely understandable that she'd do that-, she also noted Foxface's clear avoidance of the word " _kill_ ", which only further confirmed her suspicions of the redhead's nature. "Come on," Foxface prompted, this time with a slight smile, "I'll help you look for him," she offered as she discarded the core of her apple and stuffed her canteen inside her backpack before slinging it over her shoulder.

"Why?" Katniss asked dubiously. It's not that she doubted Foxface's intentions, she just wondered what motive the redhead could possibly have to want to help her - _them_ , really- given their circumstances. Foxface had held her position of lone wolf throughout the games so far, so it  _did_  strike Katniss as odd that she should want to help her find Peeta out of the goodness of her heart.

The redhead turned her head towards Katniss as they began to walk back into the wilderness to avoid being seen, since they had already been out in the open for too long, "Well, first of all, I believe the chance of survival -for all three of us- will be higher if we stick together at this point. And secondly, if I recall correctly, there was something you wanted to talk to me about, and there's no point in wasting time your friend may not have, so it'll be better if you tell me about it while we search for him, no?"

Katniss bit on her tongue to keep from giving an uncalled for sarcastic retort at the redhead's tone, but she had to admit that Foxface was right. Were she to leave the redhead behind after talking, Cato could get to her before Katniss had a chance to talk to him and Clove first; and that would not only weigh in her conscience but also be incredibly counterproductive to her plans. With a rather reluctant nod in Foxface's direction as they were once again protected by heavy foliage, the brunette wondered how on earth she'd manage to tell everything to the other girl without tipping off the sound sensors of the million cameras all over the arena.

"This way," Katniss nodded again -this time to an obvious blood stain-, "I was following his trail when I saw you," she explained, throwing a wry smile in the redhead's direction. Foxface nodded in understanding and dutifully followed the brunette.

After having followed the trail for a while -the intervals between the blood stains regularly shortening-, Foxface looked up to examine their surroundings with steely determination, "With this much blood loss, he can't be much farther from here." She saw recognition flash in the brunette's expression, and wondered why Katniss hadn't spoken to her yet. Maybe she hadn't earned her trust yet? With a rather impatient sigh, the redhead came to a halt before spinning around to face Katniss, "Clem," she caved in, yet the look of utter confusion that blanketed Katniss's face told her she'd have to explain further, "You can call me Clem," the redhead elucidated, and felt her cheeks flush when the brunette's brows remained furrowed tightly, "My name is actually Clematis, but no one really calls me that. So you can call me Clem," she finished with a welcoming smile.

Katniss observed her face for a moment, taking in every little detail: from the bright, carrot-colored hair, to the slightly turned up nose and full lips -which seemed to be  _always_  denoting slyness-, from the pale -almost translucent- skin, to the wide, almost aquamarine eyes staring back at her curiously; and Clematis knew that the brunette was trying to associate the name with the face, for she was sure she had been called something  _entirely_  different in the other girl's mind. Once Katniss deemed the examination thorough enough, she pursed her lips with a terse nod; but then her face broke into a genuine smile and she offered her free hand to the redhead, "Well, nice to meet you, then,  _Clem_."

Clematis flashed a mirroring smile -though Katniss noted that same slyness peeking through her expression- and shook the brunette's hand, "Likewise, _Katniss_ ," she then became serious again and rested her hands on her hips, "Now, let's find Peeta, shall we?"


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter 2**

_"Forfeit the game before somebody else takes you out of the frame, puts your name to shame, cover up your face, you can't run the race, the pace is too fast, you just won't last"_

"Points of Authority" - Linkin Park

As it turned out, they had been right. It had only taken them another hour or so before they found Peeta. Katniss had been shocked out of her wits when -after Clematis had tripped over a rock- that same rock called out to her, "Are you going to step on me, too, love?"

"Jesus  _Christ_ , Peeta!" Katniss exclaimed as she knelt beside him to help him sit up and squeeze his weakened body in a relieved hug. When she had let him go, he turned his confused bluish face towards Clematis and eyed her up and down, "No offense, Foxface, but why are you here?"

Instead of replying, the redhead raised an amused eyebrow at the brunette before her and knelt to Peeta's other side to help the other girl clean him up. Upon the redhead's silence, Peeta turned to Katniss expectantly, until she heaved a sigh, "She'll be with us from now on. I'll explain everything later, okay?" she told him gently as she began peeling off layers of leaves and moss off his clothes.

Two hours later, the girls had managed to wash all the dirt off Peeta and clean his wound enough to assess the damage. Katniss was trying not to follow her instinct to run from the sickening sight of the wound while Peeta was passed out from the pain, yet Clematis had gone into clinical mode -Katniss swore she could  _see_  it in her face- and was currently examining the gash on Peeta's leg calmly. She gently traced nimble fingers along the edges of the wound, noting that Cato's sword had delivered an incredibly clean cut, and leaned down to get a better view of the depth of the gash. She looked up at Katniss, only to find her worriedly biting her lip in an attempt to appease her nausea at the sight of the deeply marred flesh. She knew that despite all her strength to keep herself alive, the brunette felt impotence for not being able to do much for Peeta in his current state, so she decided to sooth her worries if only temporarily.

"So..." Clematis began, a tiny smirk curling up the corners of her mouth, " _Foxface_?" she asked with a fleeting glance at the brunette's face before continuing with the task at hand. Katniss looked up at her, abruptly brought out of her musings, and then the redhead heard her burst into throaty laughter, "Yes!" the brunette replied, while Clematis noticed that Peeta's muscle was basically torn apart, and -unless he received medication from the sponsors- it would take him weeks to recover. "Sorry, but it just seemed fitting, you know?" Katniss replied, crinkling her nose, and the redhead's smile widened when she glanced at Katniss to find that her tactic had worked, "You've always seemed so smart, and clever, and  _sly_..." Katniss shook her head in amusement, "like a real strategist," she added as she watched the redhead wrap a torn jacket sleeve around Peeta's thigh to create a tourniquet.

"That's..." the redhead began with a rather amused frown, "that's actually quite flattering," she offered with a crooked smile. Katniss then watched attentively as Clematis finished disinfecting and dressing Peeta's wound with the little resources they had, and had to admit that the girl had done a good -and very neat- job. Now that they had nothing to do or really talk about, an uncomfortable silence fell upon the pair.

Katniss pursed her lips, unsure of what to do, until Clematis rose to her feet -dried bloody patches staining her knees- and looked around with narrowed eyes. The brunette eyed her curiously until the other girl broke the silence, "Where are we going to stay tonight? I don't think that being out in the open will be safe with Peeta hurt like this."

"Yeah. I'll go find someplace safe," Katniss nodded earnestly, "you take care of him," she added firmly, to which Clematis assented back in agreement. They didn't need to explain the logic behind that choice. They both knew that Katniss would be safer by herself because of how adept she was at handling her bow, and that -given her recently proven skills- Clematis was better suited to take care of Peeta and his wound if anything were to take a turn for the worst.

While Katniss was gone, Clematis shifted on the ground next to Peeta, tucking her legs under her body to ease the numbness that had crept up her knees after kneeling on the hard ground for so long. Although she had remained calm, the effort that focusing on disinfecting Peeta's wound as best as she could had inflicted on her had her body buzzing with energy, and after taking off her now slightly torn jacket, she rolled it up into a makeshift pillow and lay it gently beneath the blonde boy's head.

It hadn't even been twenty minutes since Katniss had left when the District Five tribute suddenly felt eyes on her while she reorganized everything in her backpack. She turned to Peeta to find him gazing up at her silently, eyes slightly unfocused with the drowsiness of sleep. Clematis stared at him for a moment, letting him come to his senses fully and remember where he was, until his expression turned into one of terrified vulnerability as he asked, "Where's Katniss?"

The redhead's gaze on him softened and she offered him a reassuring smile before brushing some sweat-matted strands of hair away from his forehead, "She went to find us some shelter," she replied softly. Peeta looked at her doubtfully for a few seconds before shifting to recline himself against the folded jacket. Clematis bit on her lower lip as she saw the effort it took him to even prop his upper body up, so she inched closer to push him from behind. The blonde kept silent even after they had managed to bring him to a somewhat sitting position, and the redhead found herself twitching uncomfortably under the scrutiny of his gaze. She felt her cheeks heat up even as she turned her face away and resumed her previous task, but then she saw him inspecting his leg out of the corner of her eye.

"You patched me up," Peeta stated softly, almost to himself, eyes never leaving his thigh as he grazed his fingers across the makeshift bandage. Clematis turned towards him once again, and a faint blush stained her cheeks as his expression changed to one of blatant approval of her skills. "Thanks," he added, and she could tell he was genuine about it. He wasn't exactly her type -she wasn't even sure she  _had_  a type-, but there was just  _something_  about him that made him incredibly adorable to her -she figured it was his kindness-, and she realized she had trusted him from the very first time they'd met, which she now thought had something to do with his eyes -all soft gazes and transparent genuineness.

Clematis wasn't exactly used to receiving compliments from anyone except her parents -the downside of being an intellectual only child with no friends-, so it took her a brief moment to nod gratefully, "Any time, Peeta," she replied truthfully.

Peeta fought a fever-induced shiver before throwing a heavy arm across his stomach and flashing her a welcoming half-smile, "So, what's it like? Living in District Five, I mean..." Although slightly taken aback by how casually the District Twelve boy had posed the question, the redhead tilted her head as she took a deep breath, and replied, "Well, my dad is a geologist, and my mom is a system analyst, and I'm an only child, so I spend most days by myself," she pursed her lips before continuing, "We work a lot with computers and other electronic gadgets in District Five, so it's alright, I suppose," she shrugged unsure of what else to say, since her existence back home was pretty much a rather dull routine of going to school and learning how to work her mother's computers.

"That's it?" Peeta questioned with a raise of his eyebrows. Clematis had to hand it to him, really. Despite his fever and his pain, and the blandness of her brief description of life back home, the tone in which he delivered the question wasn't mocking in the slightest. Quite the contrary, actually, she easily detected traces of curiosity in the way his voice pitched.

"Yes. I mean, when I'm not at school, I spend my time running my mom's software and picking out glitches, or just reading," the redhead tried to elaborate, but sensing her growing discomfort, Peeta interrupted her, "Okay, that's what you actually  _do_ , but what things do you  _enjoy_  doing?"

Clematis stared at him at a loss for words.  _Enjoyment_? She blinked at the blonde whilst she thought of an answer. She found that it was actually a rather difficult question to answer, since her only source of entertainment thus far had been her dad's books. But was that even  _normal_  in Panem these days? "Um, I don't know," she started hesitantly, "I guess I like reading," she added, but then her voice became firmer, "Yeah," she nodded, "I enjoy books. I like to read any book I can learn  _anything_  from," she finished with a satisfied smile. Huh. Who knew that she'd realize what it was that she loved to do the most from a simple question from a  _tribute_  at the  _Hunger Games_. The odds were definitely  _not_  in favor of that happening, all country-wide events considered.

Peeta wiped some sweat off his forehead as he looked at the redhead. The setting sun cast a pink glow over her red hair, making it look like a bright, vibrant red satellite, contrasting wildly with the clear color of her eyes. He let a calm smile ghost over his lips as he thought of how unexpectedly nice she was now that she had opened up a little, and he was about to tell her just that when Katniss's voice startled them from the surrounding shrubs, "I found a cave, come on."

Clematis whipped around to face the brunette, who approached the pair and quickly wrapped a strong arm around Peeta, "Clem, help me carry him so we can get there before night falls," she ordered firmly. The redhead nodded silently, since she wasn't exactly used to receiving orders from  _anyone_  -her parents had never ordered her to do absolutely anything, since she always had the initiative to do everything they wanted for or needed her to do by herself with the utmost excitement. Either way, she swiftly swung her backpack over one shoulder, and promptly wrapped her free arm around Peeta's other side to help them get to the cave faster.

It wasn't too far from the place they had just left. It was close enough to be able to help Peeta over without encountering major problems, but far enough to throw anyone off their trace. Clematis didn't have much time to examine the insides of the cave until after they had settled Peeta on the ground against a cool rock; but when she did, she had to admit that she was impressed by the brunette's judgement. The cave wasn't big, in fact, it could  _barely_  fit all three of them -although not entirely uncomfortably-, but it provided the trio with sufficient shelter to loosen up a little about being found and butchered by the Careers. That terrifying thought was exactly what prompted the redhead to head outside without a word and gather everything she had quickly listed off in her mind.

When she got back, Katniss frowned at her in confusion, eyes fleeting downwards to the heap of branches and leaves she had brought back from her short disappearance. The effort of shifting locations had drained Peeta of all energy, and he was now passed out soundly in the exact same spot where the girls had left him wrapped in the redhead's torn jacket. Clematis laid the bundle of materials in front of Katniss -who had spent the previous few minutes skinning one of the squirrels she had caught that morning-, and crouched biting her lip, "I thought we could weave a curtain of leaves to conceal the entrance to the cave. I was going to bring just leaves, but then I realized that if we add twigs and small branches, it'll provide some weight, and only the leaves will move with the wind, thus making it harder for anyone to notice it's manmade," she paused her explanation momentarily as she watched Katniss nod in understanding, "I doubt Cato will notice it's just a façade, and although Thresh definitely  _would_ , I doubt he'll come around this part of the arena. Clove, however, seems to be incredibly observant from what I've gathered, so if she sees it, I can't guarantee that she won't recognize it's fake."

Katniss simply hummed as she ran her fingers over the leaves and twigs thoughtfully, then she looked up at the redhead, "I think it's a great idea," she said as she started weaving the elements, and a small smirk tugged at the corners of her lips, "Like you said, Clove  _may_  be smart enough to see through it, but Cato is impulsive, so he'd probably drag her away before she even has time to notice it's just a curtain," she speculated.

Clematis shook her head and took the leaves away from the brunette, "I can do it if you want. I didn't mean to interrupt..." she tilted her head before pointing at the half-skinned squirrel with a grimace, "well,  _that_."

The District Twelve girl glanced down at the animal that would soon turn into their meal and surrendered the prospect of concealment to the redhead. They worked in silence for about half an hour, and all Katniss could think about while she readied the squirrel for cooking was that all their efforts to remain hidden would be absolutely futile if they were to start a fire to roast the squirrel. She put the animal aside and watched in admiration the dexterity with which the other girl had turned most of the heap of leaves into what looked like a warm blanket. Her fingers worked with rapid precision, and Katniss wondered if Clematis had done this before during the games, since no one had ever tracked her down until that very same day when Katniss herself had.

The brunette felt her cheeks flush as she noticed Clematis's tongue peeking out between her lips in concentration, brows furrowed tightly as she gave the finishing touches to the curtain. She glanced at Peeta's shivering frame as he slept, and she remembered that she still hadn't told either of her companions about her plan, so she decided to do so after dinner, once they had put out the fire and had retreated back inside the cave for the night.

Once again within the relative safety of the cave -which Peeta hadn't left at all, since he was repulsed by the mere idea of food and too weak to move-, Katniss sat in front of Clematis and bit on her lip silently. It was clear that she had the redhead's full attention, and she briefly considered that the other girl had probably figured out that Katniss was about to tell her what she had delayed all day long. The brunette eyed Peeta, thinking that they should wake him up before she started talking, and merely said, "Alright. What I have to say is... _sensitive_  in nature, so I should probably just keep my voice d- _what_  are you doing?" she interrupted herself with a deep frown when Clematis moved across the cave to crouch in front of the wall and lay her hands on it gently as her eyes scanned every crook and nanny thoroughly.

The District Five tribute spoke without detaching her gaze from the rock walls surrounding them, "Checking for cameras. Oddly enough, I don't think there are any microphones in here." Katniss just blinked at the back of her head and waited for a few seconds until the redhead returned to her spot before her and shook Peeta's shoulder. He woke with a start, eyes startled and shifting over everything around him, and countenance pale and feverish, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," started Katniss with a sigh, "I just need to tell you something," she added as she glanced at him cautiously. Her grey orbs then flitted back and forth between the boy and girl before her, and she took a deep breath before launching herself into explanation, "So, none of us actually want to die," she stated simply as the answer was obvious, "Alliances have always been popular in the arena, right? So I thought that we could  _all_  form an alliance  _together_ ," she continued, yet Peeta interrupted, "Are you serious? Cato would probably kill us  _on sight_."

The redhead, however, kept her eyes trained on Katniss silently. In turn, the District Twelve tributes kept on debating, " _Maybe_ ," Katniss conceded, "But don't you think that he probably wants to stay alive and go  _home_  just as much as we do?" her brows furrowed tightly together while Peeta simply stared at her with narrowed eyes, "We're not the only ones who have families and people we care about, and who care about us and our well-being, Peeta! We were  _all forced_  to come here, to do  _this_! We can actually  _change_  something for the better!"

The blonde shook his head, "Forget it. Cato is a  _killer_. He is a career, he  _volunteered_  to come here. Do you really think he cares about anyone else other than _himself_?!" he fought a shiver before continuing, "Do you know how many other kids he's killed so far? Did you not  _see_  how he sliced my leg open?!" he raised his voice, feebly pointing at the festering wound on his thigh, "Don't you remember that he tried to kill  _you_  once already?!"

Although Peeta  _did_  have a point, Katniss couldn't believe that there were no traces whatsoever of the kind boy she'd thought he was, and she wouldn't give up on the argument, "Do you really think that just because he's from District Two and was trained for this moment his entire life that makes it any  _easier_  for him to be here? The only reason he sliced your leg was because, technically, you  _betrayed_  him. I've  _seen_  him kill, Peeta. I saw him snap the District Three boy's neck like a twig, only because he was enraged over something  _I_  did. And don't you think it's a little hypocritical of you to judge him for having killed other tributes when that is the  _only_  thing we can do in this hell-hole, and it's actually something  _you've_  done as well? I was there, Peeta. I was  _there_  the first night when you finished off that poor girl who had started a fire. So don't you tell me he's not worthy of living because he's a killer, because so are  _you_!"

Peeta bit back a snarky remark, stare grim and jaw tight as he breathed heavily through his nose, random strands of blonde hair matted against his forehead with sweat. Clematis looked silently between the other two tributes, and while the brunette's gaze dropped to her lap the moment the words had come out of her mouth -as if ashamed-, Peeta seemed to have forgotten completely about the redhead's presence there, eyes fixed relentlessly on the other girl's face. An uncomfortable silence enveloped the trio, so Clematis bit her lip choosing her following words carefully as she saw Katniss swallow hard in regret.

"He does care," Clematis broke the silence in a soft voice, and Peeta's head whipped around to look at her as if he'd never seen her before. Katniss, instead, kept her head hung low and simply looked up at the redhead from behind her eyelashes. When Peeta's brows knitted in confusion, the District Five tribute clarified, "I mean Cato. He  _does_  care," the redhead held Peeta's gaze calmly, "He has a soft spot for Clove. You were  _with_  them for a couple of days, so you can't deny that he has  _protected_  her on more than one occasion," she paused when Peeta averted his gaze, and Katniss stared incredulously at the blonde. "I don't know what he would do if it came down to the two of them, but I'm definitely sure that he would never let  _anyone_  hurt her for as long as there is someone else other than the two of them around," she pursed her lips thoughtfully, rather satisfied with her answer while she watched Peeta nod absent-mindedly, and then turned to Katniss once again, "So, you want to form a tribute alliance, but where would we go after that? What would we do? The Gamemakers would certainly have a fit and bomb the entire arena or something like that."

The brunette bit her lip before sighing, "I'm not sure yet. The idea is that, by forming an alliance against the Capitol  _ourselves_ , people from all over Panem will see it, and that could make them form alliances between the districts. I don't really know how to explain it; but I think that the power of the Capitol over the districts is not as stable as it was before. Although there is still some clear tension between most districts, and One and Two, the larger group has this kind of... _connection_?" she shook her head frustrated at her inability to explain herself any better than that.

"And how do you know that?" Clematis questioned as she drew her knees up against her chest, raptly interested in fully comprehending what Katniss was proposing. Peeta still seemed uncertain about the whole idea, and he remained silent throughout the exchange as he struggled against his feverish state to focus on the words spoken before him.

"I don't know," Katniss shrugged before biting the inside of her cheek, "I guess you could call it a hunch?" she offered as she crossed her legs and rested her elbows on her bent knees to prop her head up on the heels of her palms, "When we were at the training center, leaving the Careers aside, most kids got along well. It was like they were in denial of what was going on, and instead tried to find a friend that understood what they were going through. And I'm sure that if half of them hadn't died within the first day, there would have been a lot of alliances," she paused while the redhead nodded at her to go on, "The whole idea hit me last night," she went on, and stared at her lap, suddenly fighting a surge of hot tears, "after Rue's death," she spoke softly, voice cracking slightly at the painful memory, "the people from District Eleven sent me a warm loaf of bread. And I realized that, despite any differences between the districts, we are _all_  together in this.  _All_  the districts are forced to lose their kids every year,  _every_  district wants it to  _stop_ , because no one wants to die, and no one wants to see their child, or the child of a friend, or even a  _stranger_  be brutally murdered just because the Capitol felt like it," she explained, her tone becoming firmer as it denoted more conviction.

"So, basically, if we succeed with this alliance and show Panem that we won't take the Capitol's rule anymore, the districts will rebel. And if we  _do_  band together and the Gamemakers blow us all to pieces for disobedience, we'll end up like martyrs and the districts will rebel?" Clematis asked rhetorically, eyebrows high on her forehead, before scoffing, "I have to say, it's risky-"

"I know," Katniss interrupted with a sigh, yet a confident smirk ghosted over the redhead's lips, "It's  _risky_ ; but I like it," her smirk turned into a sly grin when the brunette's head snapped up to stare at her in shock, "I may not be an unstoppable, ruthless killer," she shrugged noncommittally, "but I  _am_  smart, and I believe in justice, and I love a challenge," she added as she leaned back to rest her weight on her outstretched arms, palms flat against the ground.

"Really?" the District Twelve girl inquired in disbelief, to which Clematis merely shrugged, her gaze hardening for the first time since Katniss had run into her earlier that day, "Look, all my life I've had the feeling that there was something incredibly  _wrong_  with this country. My parents explained the way things worked and why the system was what it is when I was old enough to understand it; and it's never felt right to just settle down and take whatever the Capitol throws at us. So I took to reading whichever books I could get my hands on -be it from my parents or from the manuals at their work places-, and forming my own opinions on the system," the redhead explained, her voice even as she spoke directly to Katniss, even though both District Twelve tributes were staring at her as they listened attentively, "I don't want to be just another piece in their game, I don't want to resign myself to a life of misery and fear of losing my family like everyone else around me; but the other kids in my district never understood  _why_  I am this way, so I never made any friends. That's why when I was reaped I decided that, win or lose, I would  _never_  kill any of my fellow tributes, because I don't want to cave in to the Capitol's wishes and expectations for my behavior. I've always wanted to fit in, yet I knew that that would ever happen  _only_  if I met anyone who shared my values and ideals. And I've always wanted to have a purpose in life that meant  _more_  than just growing up to follow in my mother's footsteps and become an analyst. I've always wanted to be part of a  _change_ , and now I have that chance. So  _yes_ , really, I  _like_  it. I want to be a  _part_  of this. I want to  _help_  bring down this flawed, oppressive system. I know I may not be of much help physically, because I'm not much of a weapons person, but I'm good at thinking up strategies and assessing my opponent's weaknesses so as to outsmart them. So  _let_  me help.  _Let_  me be a part of this," she finished her speech with a firm nod and her lips set in a thin, earnest line.

Katniss nodded, "Okay. We'll do this, then," she conceded with a solemn smile as she rested her hand on the redhead's knee supportingly. She then turned to Peeta, who had remained silent the entire time and was currently looking at the brunette, his gaze considerably softened after Clematis's words, "Peeta?"

He knew that they were right. He had always known. And the redhead's words had simply reminded him of his own words the night before the Games began. He refused to be just another pawn the Capitol could discard once the Games were over; he refused to let them change him, turn him into something he wasn't. So after mustering some effort, he sat up and placed his hand atop Katniss's on the other girl's knee with a half-smile, "Let's bring them down."


	4. Chapter Three

 

 

**Chapter 3**

_"You're not in my heart, I'm wearing you down, I'm back where we started, no turning around. You're falling apart, I'm tearing you down, it's not what I want for always"_

"Always" - The Birthday Massacre

After their promise to go through with the plan -which, admittedly, was still in need of detailed development-, it took them some time to fall asleep. Peeta's leg wasn't any better, and his pain and fever hadn't subsided, so the girls could hear his tossing around as he attempted to find a position in which the pain was at least bearable. Clematis forced her eyelids to remain shut as she tried to sleep, yet her racing thoughts wouldn't let her. She was more than aware of the possibility of her impending death, but really, the prospect of the revolution their plan would cause made however long she had left on Earth worth a lot _more_  than if she were to die in an ordinary turn of events from the Games. Katniss, however, rested flat on the ground within the warm confines of her sleeping bag -arms folded beneath her head as she lay wide awake staring at the dry rock that served as the cave's ceiling. Now that the involvement of her allies in the plan was official, she could finally see a silver lining, regardless of how far away or how blurry it appeared to be just yet.

She realized that she had mistaken Clematis's righteousness and devious survival skills for a reason to mistrust her, yet now that she'd listened to her reasons for helping her out, she  _knew_  that it was the complete opposite: she was absolutely deserving of the brunette's trust. But there was something else that kept her awake, and it was in fact related to something the redhead had made mention of. If Cato was as protective of his district partner as Clematis had implied, then if they convinced Clove of joining them, it would be a sealed deal that Cato would follow suit. She didn't know much about the relationship between the District Two careers, but she knew she could use that in her favor to get them on their side.

Her brows furrowed in the tranquil darkness of the cave as she wondered why Peeta hadn't made allusions to Cato's sensitive side until the District Five girl had brought it up, but she figured that it probably had to do with Peeta's feelings for her and his need to protect her from harm. Still, in order to move forward, they would need to get Peeta healthy again, and that wouldn't be possible without help from the sponsors, so she made a mental note to find a way to get Haymitch to send them the medicine via parachute as soon as possible. And thus, with thoughts of asking Clematis to further elaborate on the instances in which Cato had protected Clove the following day, Katniss's eyes finally dropped closed and she drifted into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

It was Peeta's restless sleep that woke Clematis up the following morning. The feverish shudders that shook his body had made his leg jerk forward, promptly hitting the redhead square in the shoulder. She sat up abruptly -vision blurry with sleep-, absent-mindedly rubbing the sudden soreness on her arm. She looked over at Peeta's frame, curled up on his side, brow tightly furrowed even in his sleep as shiver after shiver raked his body.

It was clear that he was suffering a rising fever -if the beads of sweat gathered on his temple were any indication-, and Clematis thought they needed to get him help soon if they wanted him to come out of this whole ordeal  _alive_. If there was a personal trait she was most thankful for, that was her innate ability to keep her mind sharp even when having just woken up. Without the slightest trace of confusion about their situation, she crawled over to where she had left a few leaves from the curtain the night before in order to check for any that could possibly alleviate Peeta's discomfort.

Upon finding none, she slumped back to the ground and sat on her calves for a moment in deep thought. She then turned to Katniss and slid over to her side to gently wake her up. Instantly awake, the brunette frowned upon seeing the other girl's worried expression, and let her eyes wander over to Peeta to take in his state. Katniss wasn't sure of  _why_  it was so easy -and she didn't dwell much on it either-, but somehow she immediately understood the redhead's silent suggestion. With a sigh and a concerned nod, she brought herself to her feet and pulled Clematis up with her before leading them both outside of the cave -not without peeking through the curtain first for any signs of danger.

Once they deemed their surroundings safe, they began walking away from the cave in the hopes of finding any leaves or berries that could improve Peeta's health. They treaded through the nearby terrain in silence, each girl deep in her own thoughts, yet completely focused on the task at hand. Although she was still all for sticking to their newly formed plan, Clematis experienced real fear for her life for the first time since the Games had begun. She didn't mean to _brag_ , but up until then, her strategy had worked out incredibly well for her.  _So_  well, in fact, that she doubted that Cato even  _remembered_  her existence. But fear aside, she was a girl of her word, and she had given her word to the District Twelve tributes, so she was determined to stay by their side until the end, even if that meant losing her life in the process.

Katniss, for her part, decided not to stray too far away from Clematis, not for her own sake, but for the redhead's. After the other girl's speech the night before, she had confirmed her suspicions on the redhead's physical inferiority to the likes of Cato and Peeta, and probably even  _herself_ ; so she couldn't risk losing Clematis -especially not now that she felt a tentative  _friendship_  developing between the two of them.

It was  _funny_ , she thought, how  _now_  -amidst the clarity provided by the morning air-, the daylight seemed to illuminate her thoughts more sharply, offering her a chance to examine their plan more seriously. Even though  _nothing_  could change her mind about the plan to bring down the Capitol, she had to admit that the whole prospect of starting a rebellion from inside the arena, with no outside help whatsoever -quite the opposite, actually-, made her question her sanity, because unless they developed their plan in a clever way, the whole thing would turn out to be nothing more than the fulfillment of a ridiculously unintended  _death wish_.

She wasn't stupid. She  _knew_  that in order for the plan to succeed, they'd need a lot of things to work in their favor, and a lot of luck. For starters, they needed to get Peeta back on his feet so as to regain their mobility. And convincing Cato and Clove would be a tough piece of work, but their support would be paramount for their success. Without their skills and weapons, she doubted they'd manage to do much. Even if they  _did_  manage to form an all-tribute alliance, the biggest roadblock in their plan would be finding a way to get out of the arena without getting killed in the process. Her thoughts then drifted back to the District Two tributes, and the memory of the day before permeated her brain, so she finally turned to address the redhead for the first time since they'd left the cave, "Hey, Clem?"

"Hmm?" Clematis hummed back from where she was crouched down examining the leaves of a set of shrubs, fingers dexterously pushing twigs aside to check farther inside the shrub. "What happened?" Katniss asked, rooted to her spot rather relaxedly as she watched the redhead rummage through leaves and twigs and berries.

The District Five girl turned to blink at the brunette in confusion, "What happened with what?"

Katniss shifted her weight onto her other foot, the tight leather of her boots pressing warmly against her toes, "I mean last night, when you said Cato has protected Clove more than once, what happened to them?"

Clematis rose to her feet as she thought of how to reply to the other girl's question concisely, "Well," she began, gently tracing her fingers over the top of an emerald colored leaf, "when the Games first began, I grabbed the first bag of food that I could find and ran for shelter. You know, I like to observe how things develop and to assess my opponent's weaknesses, so I stayed hidden in the wilderness throughout most of the bloodbath in order to see who was left," she explained, fingers drawing an invisible bee line in the air to drift towards the white petals of a flower, eyes fixed on the blooming bud, "amidst all the chaos, when Cato was busy with the boy from District Four and Clove was taking a vest from another dead tribute, the girl from District Seven tried to choke Clove in a headlock. I guess she thought that she'd be the easiest career to take out because of her size; and she  _might_  have, except that Cato saw what was going on, so he threw a knife at the girl's hand, and once Clove managed to free herself from the headlock, she pushed her aside. I think it was Marvel who killed her afterwards, but I'm not sure, things were pretty hectic and gory, so I scurried away before the careers had time to leave the bloodbath and chase after me, and then I ran into you," she explained, brows furrowed in concentration as she mentally flipped through the album of memories in her head.

Katniss nodded in understanding. She wasn't sure  _what_  had shocked her the most: the fact that someone had actually come  _that_  close to killing Clove -who she was under the impression was one of the deathliest tributes-, the fact that Cato had  _defended_  her as soon as he'd noticed, as if it'd been his first instinct, of the fact that Cato  _hadn't_  tried to kill the District Seven girl, just harmed her enough to let Clove go. The brunette pursed her lips before continuing with her line of inquiry, "And what about the other times?"

Clematis shook her head, a small smile tugging at her lips as her fingertips grazed the petals so gently that Katniss wasn't even sure she had actually touched them, "There was only  _one_  other time," she replied, "The day before Marvel died, all three of them left to hunt down whoever was nearby," she began explaining, yet Katniss felt her impatient nature bubbling to the surface, "Yeah, I know. Rue and I were the ones to start those fires so that I could blow up their supplies."

"That was  _you_?" the redhead retorted amusedly, looking up at Katniss for the first time since she'd started retelling the events she had been asked about. A dry chuckle erupted from her throat at the brunette's affirmative response, and she shook her head with a smirk before continuing, "Well, I was thinking up ways in which I could steal some food from them, when I heard Cato, Clove, and Marvel somewhere nearby, so I followed their voices to see what they were up to. When I caught up with them, they had the boy from District Ten surrounded. He wouldn't go down without a fight, and since the careers were close enough for hand-to-hand combat, he dodged Marvel's spear and tackled Clove. At first, Cato tried to push him off of her, but they were rolling in the ground, fighting for one of Clove's knives. When they finally stopped moving because he stole one of her knives, Cato got him off Clove and killed him," she finished her explanation, all the time watching the brunette's countenance morph from one expression to the next.

When Clematis realized that Katniss was clearly processing even the tiniest bit of information she had just provided her with, she pulled away from the shrub to face the brunette straight on with the urge to clarify, "Katniss," she called out, eyes pleading when the District Twelve girl's gaze rose to meet her own, "Just-," she paused, pursing her lips into a tight line, "just don't let what I've just told you fool you into thinking Clove is any less lethal than you'd originally thought. Because she  _is_. I saw her kill the District Nine boy in the bloodbath, she  _never_  misses when she throws a knife, and he could easily take out Peeta and I  _simultaneously_  with just a flick of her wrists. So don't underestimate her."

Katniss let her head hang low for a moment, successfully grounded from her thoughts, "I won't. I promise," she conceded genuinely. She then nodded towards the direction of the cave, "I think we should head back, in case Peeta wakes up," she suggested in a defeated tone.

"Yeah," Clematis nodded in agreement as they began walking back towards the cave, "realistically speaking, do you think he'll get better?"

The brunette kept moving silently across the wilderness by the redhead's side, lips pursed as she tried to come up with a satisfactory answer that wasn't grim, "Honestly, I'm not sure," she finally said, bow in hand and senses alert. She had expected to have to use it. She had had the feeling that Cato and Clove were drawing nearer to them the more time went by, yet she had been surprised by Clematis's ability to move through the woods practically just as noiselessly as she did, not once rustling bushes or branches, or stepping on twigs that could alert anyone around of their proximity.

Katniss had always considered herself a realistic person, if only rather inclined to seeing things from a more pessimist perspective. Not that she'd had any reason to lead her life otherwise thus far since the death of her father, because until  _then_ , she had seen the world from a glass-half-full perspective. Yet now, and especially since having volunteered to take Prim's place in the Games, although she had gained a far more accurate perception of the way the system worked in the whole of Panem, the whole experience had kind of skewed with the way she handled things. So she knew that unless they begged the sponsors for medicine, they had no way of keeping Peeta alive for much longer.

She was in no way half as rationally analytical about everything as Clematis was, and she couldn't summon important memories from the impeccably ordered catalogue of thoughts in her brain like the redhead could, but she  _was_  smart and reasonable -for the most part, anyway; she was aware of her occasional impetuousness-, and processing things usually helped her reach a conclusion or forgotten details that could help her out of practically any situation. This was why when she thought of the sponsors, she was also suddenly reminded of what Haymitch's strategy for Peeta's interview had been:  _star-crossed lovers_. Even though she wasn't still convinced that Peeta's claimed feelings for her were entirely real -he  _had_  saved her life once after all-, she knew that the strategy could now pay off and save his life.

It's not that she returned his supposed feelings, because she most certainly  _didn't_  -or at least not in the way the viewers thought, since her preferences lay _elsewhere_ -, but the Capitol and the sponsors didn't know that, so she could make it work in her favor. All she had to do was kiss Peeta. She mentally cringed at the idea, but she forced herself to come to terms with it, for the more she believed it was real instead of pure, selfish pretense for their own gain, the more easily the viewers and the sponsors would buy it and thus help them out.

The most difficult part of carrying that out successfully would be finding a way to get Clematis to play along without tipping off the people behind the cameras. She pursed her lips as they approached the entrance to the cave, and glanced at the redhead. She couldn't help but smile at how much of a quick learner the girl was, since unlike their encounter the previous day, every muscle of her body now seemed tense as she was consciously on alert about their surroundings.

Upon reentering the cave, Katniss heard Clematis greet almost cheerfully, "Morning, Peeta." She let her eyes wander over the blonde boy in order to take in his current state -he truly wasn't fairing any better than he had the night before, and there was already a thin sheen of sweet covering his temples and his hairline-, and decided to act quicker. Peeta hadn't eaten anything yet, and Clematis and herself had only ingested a few berries they had found in the forest for breakfast, so she could kiss Peeta while using lunch as an excuse. The brunette turned to Peeta with a small smile, "Do you think you can go out today? The sunlight will be good for you."

He looked up at her warmly, gently patting his thigh around the gaping wound, "Maybe for a little bit, yes," he replied simply, so Katniss motioned for Clematis to give her a hand to help him out of the cave and lay him down comfortably on the dry ground nearby. Once he had been settled and Katniss had distracted him by letting him busy himself skinning the only squirrel they had left, the brunette led Clematis back inside the cave under the pretense -for the cameras, of course- of getting the few remnants of bread in her backpack.

Back inside the cave, she turned abruptly to find a very much confused redhead staring at her with a raised eyebrow, "What's going on?" Clematis inquired nervously as she folded her arms across her chest. Katniss motioned silently for her to lower her voice, and then shifted closer to whisper her answer, "We need to get the sponsors to send Peeta some medicine, and the  _only_  way I could think of to do that is by  _kissing_  him," she explained uncomfortably. In turn, the redhead pulled apart briefly merely to narrow her eyes in response before questioning, "Ooh-kay,  _why_  all the secrecy, though?"

Katniss shifted backwards with a sigh and a glance at the rocky floor beneath their feet, "Firstly, because I didn't want it to catch you off guard, and secondly, because it's a  _fake_  kiss. I don't have feelings for him," she added awkwardly. The redhead nodded as she blinked rapidly as if trying to fully comprehend what the other girl meant, but she couldn't stop herself from asking anyway, "You  _don't_?"

The District Twelve tribute looked up at her, traces of an offended expression lingering in her features, before replying, "No, I  _don't_ ," she sighed and bit her lower lip before resting her hands on her hips, "I don't even like... _boys_ ," she clarified shyly. She lowered her head, feeling her cheeks flush pink under the redhead's scrutiny -she just  _knew_  that Clematis was staring at her, although she couldn't guess what her expression showed-, confidence completely at the back of her mind, since she had never told such a personal thing to anyone -not even Gale.

Clematis watched the brunette frown in inner turmoil, and tugged her lip between her teeth awkwardly, unsure of what to say or how to react. She wasn't shocked, and she wasn't disgusted either. She was just...well, truth be told, she was kind of  _relieved_. Not to mention, she felt her chest inopportunely swell with pride at having been trusted with something of that caliber given their current circumstances, since -never having had friends- no one had ever taken her into account for personal talk. Yet, although she wanted to show the brunette that she was supportive, she felt curiosity prick at the tip of her tongue, prompting her to ask instead, "Does  _Peeta_  know that?"

Katniss shook her head violently, "No, I haven't even told my  _best friend_ ," she confessed and peered at the redhead from behind her lashes, cheeks still tinted pink, "Clem," she continued, hands curling shakily around the other girl's shoulders, "you  _can't_  tell him, alright? He can't know I'm  _only_  doing this to get him his medicine."

Clematis nodded solemnly before offering Katniss a sad smile and walking out of the cave to set up a fire to cook the squirrel. She felt bad for Peeta, yet she knew that, personally, she would much rather be emotionally misled than  _dead_. She just hoped the District Twelve boy would feel the same way when he found out it was all a hoax. But then again, she felt even worse for Katniss. She figured that having to go against everything she felt in order to act accordingly to what she believed in and stood by must be hard, but doing whatever it took to save Peeta's life was a testament to the brunette's nobility and loyalty, and she couldn't have been more thankful for having allied with the District Twelve pair.

Lunch was quite a silent affair. Clematis was aware of how introverted and detached Katniss seemed throughout the whole meal, avoiding not only Peeta's permanent gaze on her, but also the redhead's. She imagined that the deeply introspective state the brunette was in was probably nothing more than mere mental preparation for what she would have to do. So, once they had finished licking the squirrel's bones clean, she decided to put the other girl out of her misery by pushing her into acting as soon as possible, and thus retreated into the cave.

The brunette's eyes widened as Clematis left her alone with Peeta and the purpose of her actions registered in her brain. She finally let her eyes rest on Peeta's own kind ones, and forced herself to hold his gaze as she flashed him the most charming smile she could muster. "How are you feeling?" she asked him softly, scooting over to sit by his side, fingers gently tracing the tight skin around the swollen gash in his thigh.

Peeta covered her fingers with his own, successfully stilling them, "It's stopped hurting. So I guess it won't be long now," he replied resignedly. Katniss hadn't expected an opening so soon into the conversation. In fact, she had expected to have to share something intimate with him before finding an excuse to kiss him, but she thought that this would work just as well, so she took the chance before her. She cupped his face in both hands, forcing him to look at her, "Peeta, listen to me," she pleaded and waited for his eyes to meet hers to go on, "I will  _not_  let you die, you hear me? You won't die on me, because I  _won't let_ you. You'll get better," she stated firmly, eyes boring into his darker ones. She stared at him for the briefest of moments, insides buzzing in anticipation as she gathered the courage needed to continue, forcing her hands not to shake with nerves, and then promptly pressed her lips softly against his.

Blocking out the feeling of his rough lips brushing against her own, of the slight traces of stubble scratching her cheek and chin, of the hard edge of his jaw under the skin of her palms, she focused on counting up to five slowly, just to make sure the cameras had caught the kiss and to ensure that the sponsors had seen it. Once the time was up in her mind, she pulled away and opened her eyes to find him completely still and up close. She felt a wave of guilt crash over her at the blissful expression she had just deceitfully put on his face, but she knew she had done the right thing. Taking in a shaky breath, she whispered against his lips -yet loud enough for the cameras to pick it up-, "I  _promise_."

The moment Clematis emerged from the cave mere minutes afterwards, she knew that the redhead had heard everything they'd said in order to come out at the right moment. With the redhead's help, she pulled Peeta back into the safety of the cave so as to further discuss the details of their plan and how to proceed. Not even half an hour later, the low, yet high-pitched chiming of a parachute reached her ears, and when she opened the package to find Peeta's ointment inside, she couldn't help but grin widely. Her efforts had paid off, she had managed to fool everyone watching. And now not only would Peeta get better, but they would also be able to move on with their plan.

 


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter 4**

_"Tell me everything that happened, tell me everything you saw. They had lights inside their eyes, they had lights inside their eyes... Please please tell me what they looked like, did they seem afraid of you? They were kids that I once knew, they were kids that I once knew"_

"Dead Hearts" - Stars

Although a newfound sense of relief had washed over the three tributes when Katniss reentered the cave with the syringe and a brief note from Haymitch -which she had crumpled in her fist so as to avoid Peeta's prying eyes-, Katniss still felt the need to subconsciously hold her breath until the effects of the medication became visible. She knelt next to Peeta to shoot the turbid liquid into his arm, and while Clematis's expression had clearly brightened at the prospect of Peeta's health improving soon, the blonde's remained downtrodden, as if he wouldn't accept the idea of surviving until he received scientific reassurance.

Given that it would take a while for the medicine to work, Katniss decided to make herself useful in the meantime. Since their edible provisions had diminished to almost nonexistence, she grabbed her bow in an attempt to get them supper and rid her mind of some of the stress produced by expectation. She stopped at the entrance of the cave and glanced at the pair sitting there, "I'm going to hunt. Will you two be alright all by yourselves?"

Upon receiving an affirmative pair of nods, she went out. Ever since she had woken up surrounded by a blunt wall of heat and with balls of fire literally  _flying_ over her head like planets circling the sun, the brunette had begun questioning everything that seemed odd about the forest, or the weather, or the vegetation. Right then, she had trouble reconciling with the fact that -for the second day in a row- finding animals to hunt had been particularly easy. She had hunted for years, yet she had never encountered  _such_  discrepancies between two areas that were so close together; so she knew it was impossible for the increase in the number of animals she found here -compared to the rest of the games before then- to be something natural. She suspected the Gamemakers had something to do with that, and her gut told her that the motive behind this development was the entire opposite of what they tried to make it look like. Every advantage she had had so far had come with an even larger adverse effect. And if their days were looking up as far as food, health, and shelter went, then she had enough reason to believe that the Gamemakers would force them to meet the District Two tributes  _soon_.

Nevertheless, she took advantage of the sudden overpopulation of squirrels and birds, and she was done hunting within the hour, thus she returned to the cave with a rather generous prize that would ensure they were properly fed for at least a couple of days. When she entered the cave, the first thing she noticed was how much the mood had been lifted, immediately followed by the grey and blue smudges on both Clematis's and Peeta's faces. Katniss frowned in confusion at the sight, and she realized she had just interrupted an impromptu lesson on camouflage. Clematis's eyes looked up at her bright and wide with excitement, and as a grin spread on her lips at the sight of the squirrels, the brunette noted that even the red of her hair seemed more vibrant. As she set the dead squirrels by the entrance, she rounded the pair to sit next to the redhead, completely unable to stop a smile from forming on her lips.

Whereas her thoughts had been rather depressing on her way back, Katniss had to admit that -were their lives normal and not even  _half_  as underprivileged- she could definitely get used to spending her spare time with her pair of allies. Leaving Prim aside, there were no traces of any kind of childlike behavior around her, and she figured that it would be nice to let go every once in a while and just fool around with paint and make up like Clematis and Peeta had. Of course, it wasn't until Clematis smudged some blue paint on the brunette's cheek -tongue peeking out between her lips playfully- that the smile disappeared from Katniss's face, for she couldn't ignore the fact that these would probably be the last few moments they would get to spend like this before everything came crashing down on them.

Peeta seemed to notice the quick change in her demeanor, and his face fell. It was then that Katniss realized that there were no visible traces of sweat on his face, and that the medicine must have worked. Determinedly, she leaned forward to press her palm against his forehead, and was immensely pleased to find that his temperature had dropped considerably since the last time she had checked. Now that his health was on the right track and the prospect of having to leave the comfort -so to speak- of their den soon became apparent, Katniss thought it a good moment to discuss how they would go about the plan once Peeta had fully recovered.

"At this rate, we'll be on the move again early tomorrow morning," she commented, indirectly prompting the other two tributes to offer their opinions on the subject. Peeta leaned forward, clearly eager to know more now that his brain wasn't hampered by the haziness induced by his fever, "To look for Thresh or for Cato and Clove?"

"I think," Clematis piped up as she crossed her legs indian style, "that, although Cato and Clove  _will_  surrender more easily if we have Thresh on our side, due to the evident menace of being outnumbered, we'd have more luck finding them  _first_  and  _then_  getting to Thresh. They will definitely be closer to us, and the sooner we convince  _them_ , the sooner we can follow through on everything else", she explained simply, and she could instantly see the wheels turning in the brunette's head.

Katniss nodded silently before confirming the redhead's theory verbally, "Yeah," she turned towards Clematis, "do you know where they could be now? The arena is pretty big, and we don't have time to waste going around and waiting for the Gamemakers to bring us against them under circumstances we have no control of."

"Well, they're probably at the Cornucopia," Peeta replied matter-of-factly, making himself comfortable by resting on his side as he looked at the two girls before him. Katniss pursed her lips, considering the possibility, and turned towards the District Five tribute once again, "Even after their supplies were blown up? Do you think they'll be out in the open?"

Although Peeta suddenly felt rather lost at hearing that, he deemed it more practical to just let it go and let the redhead answer. There was no point in asking how the explosion had happened, since it wouldn't render any advantages for them as far as tactics went, and what's done is done, and that's all there really was to it. So he merely blinked at Katniss before facing Clematis expectantly, "They are  _careers_. In fact, they are quite  _arrogant_  careers. Even if their chances of winning have diminished, they will still believe that the odds are  _ever_  in their favor by far," the redhead explained sarcastically, making air quotation marks as she imitated the accent that proliferated in the Capitol, "besides, even if they  _were_  positively frightened, they would  _still_  keep up appearances in order to make their district proud. So yes, they  _will_  be out in the open," she finished with a sharp nod.

"Good," Katniss replied curtly, "then it'll be easier to find them. We'll go tomorrow," she stated determinedly, pushing a stray lock of hair that had escaped her braid behind her ear. Peeta straightened up at that, "What do we do until then?"

"You mean aside from giving the medicine enough time to heal your wound completely?" Clematis raised an eyebrow at him. As kind as he was, the more he talked, the more she got the impression that -although considerably smarter than the likes of Marvel- he wasn't the sharpest tool on the shed, so she couldn't stop the rhetoric question from blurting past her lips. She regretted it as soon as it happened, so she was thankful for the fact that Katniss ignored the comment completely and gave the blonde an adequate answer, "Until then, we eat and get as much rest as possible, because we'll need the energy, so it'll be best to not strain ourselves too much."

"I'll take first guard," Peeta offered, the improvement of his health serving as encouragement enough to do something for the pair before him.

An early dinner followed after those arrangements, the preparation for which had all three tributes engaging in distinctly necessary activities. While Katniss skinned the squirrels, Peeta got a modest fire going and Clematis reorganized all their supplies in their respective backpacks according to each of their individual skill sets. Dinner was a rather quiet affair, although Clematis couldn't tear her eyes away from the pair before her. Her eyes shifted back and forth between the metamorphosis of the brunette's face -from discomfort to awkwardness, from confusion to resignation-, and Peeta's blatantly oblivious expression. Even though she hoped Peeta would take the hint and realize that it was all an act on Katniss's behalf -for his sake-, she also hoped that the resolution of the cameras spread about the arena wasn't good enough to pick up every little tell that could betray the veracity of the brunette's act in the eyes of the Gamemakers.

With their stomachs full -or as full as they could possibly be in the  _Hunger_  Games, anyway-, Katniss put out the fire as the sky slowly turned into a chimerical blend of pinks and lilacs, a few bright clouds scattered about its expanse, linings glimmering in bright shades of orange. Meanwhile, Peeta threw on his jacket so as to avoid the cool dew from falling on his skin while he kept watch, and Clematis thoroughly buried the remaining squirrel bones so as to erase any trace of them having been there once they left the following day.

The redhead retreated into the cave to sleep regardless of the fact that it wasn't night time yet, since she had offered to take the late night turn. Aside from wanting to contribute to the up-keeping of their safety, she had decided to keep watch after Peeta because she was used to staying up until the wee hours of the morning back in District Five -usually reading clandestine novels and stories from times before the origins of Panem, which she had obtained in contraband from some of her father's co-workers. And besides, the eerie silence of the night would provide her with a chance to reflect on the events of the last two days she had spent with the District Twelve tributes without any interruptions.

On one hand, she still felt a wee bit awkward about being figuratively bound to her two companions. Yes, she had had trouble making friends back in District Five, because she was unusually bright, and she was far more mature than her peers -her parents reminded her of that  _every_  chance they had, since they were proud of her and they weren't afraid to show it- so she never laughed at what they thought to be jokes. The decay of society as a whole had been followed by an ever-increasing disinterest in education, and thus her class mates had taken to making fun of her for even doing her homework -which, it should be noted, was always right- or getting high grades in her exams. They had all stopped interacting with her soon after the teasing had begun, so the only people she talked to were her parents or her parents' co-workers whenever they decided to take her to work to help.

It wasn't just that she'd been consistently left aside. No, she had also kept it that way because that was how she  _preferred_  it. Although she had oftentimes craved the company of people her own age, she had always felt more at home with adults. She was lucky enough to be a pretty accurate reflection of her parents, so they understood her and explained everything she inquired about. She thrived on the acquisition of knowledge, she thrived on being privy to the mechanics of the system whilst every other kid only cared about enjoying their childhood. She was incredibly thankful for the fact that she was so astoundingly rational and detached, and blessed with an advanced intellect, because that made it easier for her. The more she pushed her peers away, the less questions they asked. That meant that they had absolutely no idea of how she spent her free time: reading book after book on the history of Panem, perusing novels dated  _before_  the origins of this dystopian nation, learning every quirk and secret of her parents' respective trades in the district; so she spent her days alone at home reading under the flickering light of a candle way past curfew.

On the other hand, Peeta's obvious kindness and Katniss's unwavering determination made the warming up process much easier than she had thought it would be. For the first time in her short life, she had encountered someone she could consider an equal. Even though they were blatantly different individuals, she  _knew_  she had found her match in Katniss. Clematis had thoroughly enjoyed challenges from a very early age, and although she hadn't had the chance to even hold a debate with the brunette, she was certain that their disparaging perspectives and experiences would force her to challenge both the District Twelve girl and herself. Leaving aside the prospect of her possible death, she found herself looking forward to spending more time with Katniss and forging a friendship with her the more time went on.

Her rationality also made her unsurprisingly realistic, thus she was also aware that -despite her hopes and wishes- there was a high probability that she wouldn't get to expand the boundaries of friendship. However, she hoped that, if they got out of that mess alive, she would develop a relationship with Katniss, because she knew the brunette would prove to be her first real friend. Not to mention, the idea of converting the remaining tributes to their side created the possibility of getting to know them and judging whether their personalities could be compatible, therefore prompting an influx of exhilaration to rush through her body as she thought that maybe they could all become more than deathly rivals or acquaintances.

Her thoughts suddenly deviated from that topic, and she found herself wondering -for the nth time since she had been reaped-  _what_  would become of her if she survived. Gruesome images filled her head as she recalled one of the stories she had obtained via contraband:  _For Esmé, With Love and Squalor_. Although she deduced that the living conditions of the protagonist were very much similar to the way the population of Panem lived  _daily_ , her concerns lay on which poison would she take to taint her mind free of nightmares and terrible memories. Would she turn to morphling? No, she wouldn't. She'd want to forget, not _destroy_  her beloved brain. Maybe alcohol? No, not that either. She may be a severely rational being, but she had some vanity hidden deep within her, so she would never do anything to  _harm_  herself physically -aesthetically or otherwise. She chewed on her lip as she thought of her remaining options. She could always turn into an insensitive workaholic to get her mind off everything connected to the games, although the outcome remained unknown to her, so perhaps she  _wouldn't_  need to forget at all -if she was feeling optimistic enough, that is.

Clematis sighed in relief when the first signs of morning light filtered through the canopy. That meant her turn was up. She took a fleeting moment to enjoy the scenery of wilderness and the first chirping sounds of invisible birds waking all around her; and then she retreated into the cave to shake Katniss awake, although she didn't hear the subtle artificial chirping outside.

Alert from the very moment her hearing came back to her as she slowly pried her eyes open, Katniss headed outside while the redhead curled up in the sleeping bag that still held some remnants of the brunette's body heat. Katniss slung her sheath of arrows over her shoulder and lowered herself against the rock that provided her with the widest vantage point to fix her unruly hair back into a braid. It was when she was tying the ends that she noticed it: the unmistakeable chirping of a parachute right above her head. She looked around for any signs of danger before tossing her braid over her shoulder and propping herself up on a rock to reach the metallic artifact. However, the moment she opened it to find it  _empty_  save for a tiny note that was clearly  _not_ addressed to her, she barged back into the safety of the cave hoping Clematis hadn't fallen asleep just yet.

"Did they get to us first?" was the redhead's slightly disoriented response to her rude awakening. Katniss felt slightly guilty for her timing, but it was a truly pressing issue, so she waited for Clematis to wrap herself in the sleeping bag a walk outside with her silently. Once they had both settled in the spot Katniss had previously occupied, the brunette handed the District Five tribute the tiny note she had retrieved from the parachute, "I figured  _R_  is your mentor."

The redhead held the small paper precariously between her fingers, a small frown marring her features, "Yeah, Robin. This was all there was?" she questioned curiously, to which she only received a disappointed nod in response. She twirled the paper back and forth gently, slightly mesmerized by the stark contrast between black and white, and read its content over and over.

Katniss bit her lip as she eyed the clearly focused redhead, "I would have let you sleep, if it had been something else, or if I had managed to figure it out," she commented regretfully, "What does it mean?"

Clematis couldn't detach her eyes from the almost offending piece of paper, "I don't know yet," she replied absent-mindedly as her frown deepened. She held the note a bit farther away, as if that would change the characters imprinted on it, yet its content remained exactly the same:

" _ **STORI 198/7-5-1+1+2 - R**_ "

"Anything?" Katniss asked impatiently, a tinge of hope noticeable in her voice. Clematis shook her head, "Not really. For some reason she's referencing a book I read, called  _1984?_  But I don't know  _why_."

"It's alright," the District Twelve girl answered with a rather resigned sigh before watching Clematis cover a yawn, so she patted her on the shoulder with a half-smile, "Go back to sleep, we can figure it out later."

The redhead shook her head violently, "No," she retorted simply, and upon seeing Katniss's confusion, she made herself comfortable next to the brunette and explained, "I wouldn't be able to until I figured out what  _this_  means." The brunette nodded in understanding before standing up with a bright smile, "Then let's at least eat something so that we can find out its meaning faster."

After a short breakfast that consisted of cold squirrel leftovers, the girls watched as a fully healed Peeta grinning from ear to ear. "Well, someone's definitely feeling better," Katniss commented as she handed him a cold squirrel leg and a handful of almost dried berries. He hummed out his assent while he munched vigorously on the meat. He then glanced at the redhead confusedly while he swallowed, "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Before Clematis could respond, Katniss held the note before his eyes, "We've been trying to figure this out," she stated simply, and Peeta leaned closer for a better look while he ate. "Why is  _story_  spelled out wrong?" he asked almost innocently without stopping the chewing motions of his mouth. Clematis huffed in frustration, "I don't know yet!"

"Either way," Katniss interrupted earnestly as she turned to stare at Peeta, "you should hurry. The sooner we go look for Cato and Clove, the better," she then turned to the redhead, "Clem, while we're on the move, it might be better if you stay in between us," she motioned to herself and the blonde, "that way you won't have to worry as much about protection, and will be able to focus on  _that_ ," she explained nodding towards the note she handed back to the District Five girl.

Once Peeta was satisfied -or, at least, as satisfied as he figured he would be while in the arena-, the trio packed their belongings and erased every trace of having ever been there, which included burning the curtain of leaves down to a crisp. Throughout their trek towards the Cornucopia, worry pricked at the back of Katniss's mind. It had nothing to do with Clematis muttering what sounded like mathematical formulas under her breath, or with Peeta crunching about a thousands twigs with every step he took. No. There was something  _wrong_ , and although she couldn't pinpoint  _what_  it was, exactly, she could definitely feel it creeping up her spine in a slow-motion shiver as they avoided branches and open spaces.

Leaving aside the riddle that Clematis was preoccupied with -because it came from her mentor, so it  _had_  to be some form of help-, she couldn't help but think of the Gamemakers. It was just downright  _odd_  that they hadn't influenced anything since Rue's death. There had been no setbacks, no surprise attacks -or fire balls, for that matter-, no unsubtle prompts to force them into engaging the District Two tributes physically whilst unprepared. Either they had heard of their intentions to find Cato and Clove, and were leaving them to do it their way and expected some kind of throw down once their paths crossed, or they had no idea about it and were busy messing up with the other half of the remaining tributes. Either way, Katniss was concerned, for she had been pestered by the Gamemakers' whims and manipulations since the very beginning of the games, and this lack of attention being unprecedented, she couldn't help but wonder what their next strike would be.

After about three hours of silently wandering through the woods, Katniss held up a hand before the pair walking behind her. They both ceased their movements immediately, and even Clematis's whispered ramblings stopped short as Katniss pointed at something behind a set of shrubs where the light of the midday sun filtered through. All three of them peered through the tangle of leaves and, sure enough, there were Cato and Clove under what little of their tent they had managed to restore. From what Katniss could tell, Cato was busy cooking some animal while Clove was sitting cross-legged on the grass -back ramrod straight- and seemed to be rearranging all their provisions so methodically that Katniss thought the tiny girl would have a stroke if anything disrupted the other in which everything was set on the ground. What she also noted, however, was that Cato's weapons were nowhere near him  _or_  Clove, and that the District Two girl wasn't wearing her vest of knives.

She knew that Clematis and Peeta noticed the same thing, so she motioned for them to follow her silently in the hopes of getting as close as possible to the careers without raising alarm. Of course, Katniss held her arms tense ahead of her, ready to shoot them if necessary -not to kill, obviously, but somewhere that would slow either of them down enough to listen to what they had to say. She wasn't naive, she expected Cato to attack quickly, or at the very least take on a fighting stance, but what she hadn't expected was to see Clove's eyes widen in terror the moment she looked up and her gaze caught the glint of the older brunette's arrow and the warning in her eyes.

Even though she was aware that, unarmed, Clove wasn't the threat in their current situation, her eyes never left those of the shorter girl's even as she stood up and called Cato's attention. Katniss lowered her bow as a sign of faith, "We just want to talk," she exclaimed from afar even as she kept stepping closer to where the District Two tributes were. Out of the corner of her eye, she could notice several little things happening at once: she could see Clematis shaking like a leaf as she faced the careers for the first time, she could see Peeta all but snarling and glaring at Cato, she could see Cato glare back and forth between Peeta and herself, and then tilt his head in confusion as his gaze fell on the redhead; yet her focus still remained on Clove, since she knew that if the girl got hold of her knives, she would turn out to be more lethal than Cato would from such a distance.

Regardless of her efforts to sooth their worries, she saw Cato slowly shift to stand between herself and Clove in such a blatant display of protectiveness that Katniss was momentarily thrown off balance. The tall blonde narrowed his eyes at her, clearly wary of her every move, "Why shouldn't I just kill you now, huh? Tell me!"

Katniss bent down to drop her bow at her feet, now seemingly completely disarmed, "Because I think all six of us can get out of here alive!" Cato stared at her wide-eyed, as if the concept were incredibly outrageous to him, an impossible wish. On the other hand, she was surprised to see the hopeful shock in Clove's face, as if -despite her obvious talents and her confidence- she had never even considered the idea of living past her fifteen years of age. Cato's jaw tensed as he seemed to relent, if only slightly, "Oh, really? And how do you suppose we do that? What reason do we have to trust that you won't try to kill us the moment we join your little party?"

" _1984_!" Clematis blurted out from behind Katniss, causing the brunette to whip around towards her in confusion and the rest of the tributes to simply stare at her, "The book,  _1984_! It talks about-"

" _Orwell_ 's  _1984_?" Clove interrupted with a slight frown, and Katniss tilted her head at the shorter girl, because although she had somewhat expected it from Clematis, the notion of outdated books being available anywhere had been a bit of a shock to her, yet the idea of Clove having read such a thing was almost unfathomable to her, perhaps because -until then- she had only seen a pair of dark green eyes behind the shiny points of the girl's knives.

The redhead seemed to be equally as surprised at Katniss, but she recovered much quicker, and went on, " _Yes_ , it talks about a dystopian world in which simple yet basic concepts have been tarnished, and leaders have made people believe impossible principles such as  _War is Peace_ ,  _Freedom is Slavery_ , and  _Ignorance is Strength_. That is  _exactly_  how Panem is being ruled, if only not as blatantly. By banding together, we can do enough to start the process that can stop such hypocrisy. If you say you don't care if you die, I won't believe you, because human nature implies a desire to  _live_. If you say that even if it's better than our districts you live as alright in District Two as you would in the Capitol, I won't believe you, because the Capitol rides on the back of  _every_  district. So take just one moment to be  _honest_  with yourselves and do the right thing, please!" she pleaded nobly.

Katniss took a moment to glimpse at Peeta, only to see his jaw tense and his gaze open and vulnerable as he remained resolutely silent. She then turned to look at the District Two tributes, heart beating wildly as adrenaline coursed through her veins; until it all stopped and she had trouble catching her breath as her brain caught up with what her ears heard, "If we say yes, how would we go about it? And  _how_  the bloody hell are we going to get out of  _here_?"

Cato turned towards his district partner -now suddenly standing next to him, arms folded neatly across her chest, glaring sun hitting her square on her face- with an almost offended, questioning frown, "Clove, what are you talking about?"

The short brunette averted her eyes away from Katniss to settle her gaze on Cato, "They are not wrong, you know?" she began with a rather sad smirk, voice softer than Katniss had imagined it would be -certainly softer than it had been while she had been cowering high on a tree-, "I am  _dead_  anyway," she shrugged in a seemingly nonchalant way, although Katniss could tell there was more to it than apathy. No, what she saw was resignation to a fate she hadn't chosen for herself. "I mean," Clove went on, offering Cato a masochistic grin, "we all know that if  _she_  didn't put an arrow through my skull," she confessed nodding towards the other brunette, " _you_  would have put me to sleep when it came down to the two of us," she then turned towards Katniss again, her face instantly masked by an earnest expression that conveyed as much determination as Katniss knew the girl had, "I don't want to die, but at least this way, if I  _do_ , it'll be because it is meant to happen. Games aside, I personally have no reason whatsoever to kill  _any_  of you, and since what you're saying is that you want to go all  _fuck you_  on the Gamemakers and the Capitol, therefore increasing my chances of survival, I'm in," she explained civilly.

Although she appeared to be devoid of all emotion, Katniss was sure she heard her voice tremble slightly with a tinge of pride and expectancy, and even though she knew -consciously- that she should have expected it, she wasn't emotionally prepared to see Cato's eyes glassy with unshed tears. Sure, she knew that he and Clove had probably known each other since before the games, and she had been told about how protective he was of her -she had actually just witnessed it herself-, yet she hadn't expected him to be so  _caring_  towards the smaller girl -even if he wasn't actively doing something to show it- or to see him so openly emotional about  _anything_ , or anyone, in this case.

Clove then stepped forward cautiously, "Question, though.  _How_  can you be sure that whatever you've planned will work? And why the fuck haven't the Gamemakers had a hissy fit over this not being a bloodbath yet?" she inquired, tone clearly curious even as she looked up at the sky as if addressing the people behind the cameras. To be honest, every other tribute around her suddenly wondered the exact same thing, yet it wasn't until they saw her eyes widen unexpectedly as she muttered a rhetoric, "Oh,  _shit_ ," that they realized exactly  _why_  they had been left unbothered for so long.

 


	6. Chapter 5

**  
Chapter 5**

_"I'm looking at a face, a pointed chin towards the sky, an arrogance. It easily betrays the closest friend, no moment lost, no consequence"_

"Pale" - The Birthday Massacre

 

In a single millisecond, Katniss felt the air around them shift subtly. It wasn't anything overt, merely a slight tingle buzzing upwards through her spine.

All Katniss saw at that moment, all she could focus on was Clove's upturned face. There was a certain air of despondency in the way her jaw was set tight as she stared skywards. Frozen in that moment, like an instant photograph, Katniss realized that Clove was actually incredibly good looking. Every feature in her face was minute, yet entirely proportionate to the rest of her being: from the delicate cheekbones, to the gentle, yet firmly curled lines of her tense mouth; from the turned up nose, peppered with freckles, to the darmouth green of her eyes even as the sunlight shone on them.

However, her posture blatantly denoted suspicion and alertness, and contrary to the delicacy of her features, Katniss distinguished controlled tension in Clove's body --shirt rippling here and there with the contraction of her muscles. As she wondered _why_ that was, she saw a familiar look flash behind the shorter girl's eyes: an intense determination that made it difficult for Clove to restrain her movements and made her look astoundingly menacing even as disarmed as she was.

Katniss followed the line of sight of Clove's eyes, only to see a very much recognizable hovercraft flying not too close to where they were.

It was then that she knew. She _knew_ that the expression she'd just seen on Clove's face was that of barely contained anger, of the raw instinct to retaliate against the Capitol bubbling under the surface, ready to burst forth --she knew because it was the exact same thing _she_ felt. And now Katniss knew that trust issues aside, both Clove and Cato were on her side, bound by an unspoken vow and a common goal.

Even though she was aware of everyone else staring at the barely moving figure in the sky, Katniss dropped her gaze to rest on Clove once again, "Look," she began, voice steady with a clear air of urgency and need for reassurance, "we don't have much time," she insisted as both Clove and Clematis looked at her, "are you in or not?"

The intensity with which Clove's eyes met her own took her aback so much that she barely noticed Cato glancing down at his district partner deep in thought yet seemingly considerate of what Clove would do before squaring his shoulders and looking at Katniss, "What do you think?" he asked simply. Judging by his tone alone, Katniss would have thought he was being sarcastic and the answer was a stark _no_ , but the moment she caught the smirk tugging at Cato's lips, she knew she had found yet another ally --a powerful one, too. She smiled at him with a subtle nod and averted her gaze towards the District Two girl yet again expectantly.

At first, as the seconds slowly ticked by with the imminent threat of the approaching hovercraft latent in the back of their minds, Katniss couldn't read the expression on Clove's face or break the barrier of her hardened eyes. But then the younger girl folded her arms across her chest and tilted her face down just so --eyes never straying from Katniss's--, and the older brunette saw a telling confident smirk spread across Clove's features: _assent_.

"Just one thing, though," Clove spoke firmly, and Katniss frowned in confusion, frantically hoping to just get the deal over with so that they could focus on the more pressing issue of the appearance of the Capitol in the arena, "if you even _try_ to kill _either_ of us, I will shove a knife down your throat before you can even _think_ of being sorry," she clarified in what Katniss thought was an unsuccessful attempt at sounding threatening, yet there was just _something_ about the look in Clove's eyes as she spoke that betrayed her conscious intention to make Katniss consider her statement a warning.

"It's never crossed my mind," Katniss reassured before breaking eye contact with Clove and sparing a quick glance at the hovercraft, "Why is that even here?"

Peeta and Clematis had huddled closer right behind her and, just like Cato and herself, were looking at the almost static vehicle, trying to decide whether it was moving at all or if it was just floating in the same spot. Cato eyed the discernible foreign object dubiously, "No cannon means no death, and no death can only mean that they are here to do damage control," he stated lowly, jaw tight.

Peeta glanced at him worriedly, "Meaning?"

" _Meaning_ ," Clove continued, voicing Cato's conclusion, "that televised transmission to the districts has probably been cut off and they are here to wipe all evidence of us _not_ having killed each other, or," she rolled her eyes, although she didn't fix them on Peeta's questioning face again but on the seemingly immobile hovercraft, "in other words, they will _contain_ our brief rebellious glory," she added monotonously.

"Well, they can _try_ ," Clematis's voice brought their gazes to her face and away from the flying vehicle. Katniss wasn't exactly surprised by the adamancy her tone conveyed, yet the District Two tributes looked at her rather wide-eyed, which only caused the redhead to scoff, "seriously, I'm not going down without a fight, especially not with the three of _you_ and your lethal expertise on weaponry of different kinds."

While that made Cato's lips stretch in a pleased smile as he nodded, Clove smirked at the District Five girl as she eyed her up and down, "Good to know Red is committed to the cause," she commented almost playfully, arms loosening their fold across her chest.

The dark figure of the hovercraft grew larger in the distance, blurring the edges of the irregular skyline created by the tall trees and instead marring it grimly with incongruently stark edges and sharp metallic lines. Generally, hovercrafts were silent vehicles, yet a certain buzz reached their ears, carried by a rather disturbing wind that should have never existed in an environment as controlled as the arena was, and it set Katniss on edge. She could feel that ominous buzzing permeating every pore in her skin and settling deep within her muscles, making her every cell vibrate in restless anticipation.

Katniss knew they didn't have much time to prepare, and certainly not enough time to come up with a plan to retaliate whichever torture the Capitol had decided to inflict upon them. She _knew_ what Clove and Cato had meant. Both she and Clematis had been aware of the fact that once they presented their plan to the Careers, the cameras would pick it up, thus letting everyone in the game control center know _exactly_ what they intended on doing. And she knew that they would take any measure required in order to destroy their plan. Hell, she had even expected Peacekeepers to barge into the arena guns a-blazing and the Capitol to sell their families some _bullshit_ cover up story on how some trifle or other had caused _all_ of their deaths. She hadn't expected them to show up so _soon_ , though, but she wouldn't let them put an end to her life story without at least broadcasting her intentions to the whole of Panem. Still, she figured that, for the time being, they needed to get away from their current location.

The suggestion was on the tip of her tongue when Peeta beat her to it, "Maybe we should hide back in the woods-"

"-to make it more difficult for them to find us, and to gather our resources and device a plan, or, well, at the very least, have an _idea_ of what we'll do when they _do_ get to us," Clematis finished for him succinctly, already forming a clear idea for a course of action in her mind, and Katniss almost felt sorry for him. Clove simply thought his entire approach to the whole situation was rather weak and pathetic.

"Alright," Cato straightened up as the buzzing became consistently louder, "Lover Boy, you go ahead first and find us a good hiding spot," he started assertively, "Foxface," he went on, and Katniss --wondering _how_ he had even found out about that nickname-- considered that he was actually really efficient at leading and giving out clear orders, "you go with him. You seem smart, so try to think of a strategy or something," he then turned to Katniss, "Fire Girl, you stay with us to choose another weapon," he smirked conspiratorially, and the brunette felt a rare kind if kinship towards him, "Clove, get our supplies, just in case," he finished and she promptly began jogging away to where they had left their backpacks, "Oh, and get your knives, too," he added as an afterthought.

The shorter girl threw him a friendly smirk over her shoulder, "As if I'd _ever_ actually leave them behind."

Cato then turned to Katniss again, "Come on," he nodded towards their stash of swords, and machetes, and such. They hurried over, and Katniss watched him gather quite the variety of weapons, but not too many to be overwhelmed by their weight, and then lowered her gaze to the deadly objects before her. She became entranced with the apparent sharpness of every blade laid out in front of her eyes. There was something eerily twisted about appreciating the beauty of such objects meant to wound and kill, she knew that. But at the same time, she just couldn't help but be amazed by the obvious _delicacy_ with which each weapon had been crafted and manufactured, each and every one of them special in a different way.

Suddenly quite unaware of her surroundings, she ran a finger along the central line of a sword, marveling at how soft and smooth the polished metal was, and she momentarily thought of how often Cato and Clove may have cleaned them. However, she was overwhelmed by a bout of melancholy when her gaze fell on a set of spears, fingers hovering along one of them from the handle to the deadly pointy end. She made up her mind to never use one of those --as much as it hurt, she wanted to keep the memory of Rue's death as pure and pristine as possible within the confines of her mind.

"Hey, Katniss," Cato's voice brought her out of her reverie, and she turned to face him, small sword in hand, "I'm sorry, I mean, about what Marvel did to that little girl," he paused with a tight purse of his lips, "She shouldn't have even been in the Games to begin with."

The brunette stared at him for a moment, debating whether he was being genuine or if he was just trying to gain her trust; but the way his shoulders were slumped as if they were forced that way by the heavy burden of shame and guilt, and the hard set of his jaw told her that he actually meant it. She wondered what his family was like, and how he was treated back home, because the more time she spent with him, the more she talked to him, the more she realized that he was _nothing_ like the vicious, tough guy act he had put up all throughout training and the interview. She figured he had been under a lot of pressure to win and bring pride to his family and his district, pushed and manipulated to volunteer against his will, for as good as he was at hurting and killing, she now came to the realization that --leaving aside the bloodbath, where the premise is to kill or be killed-- he had never actually killed anyone with steely determination. He hadn't killed Peeta when he'd had the chance to; he hadn't actually killed the girl from District Eight on that first night in the arena, and everyone else he had killed had either threatened Clove's life or their well being. He was so protective over Clove that Katniss figured that she was probably the closest he had to _family_ , not of the blood related kind, but of the kind that you care about and is part of your life always no matter what. Perhaps life in District Two, despite all the comforts the Capitol showered them with, was far _worse_ than life in District Twelve.

She offered him a sad smile as her fingers tightened around the handle of the sword, "There shouldn't even be any Hunger Games to begin with," she replied instead, and he nodded with a rather relieved smile, "Let's end them, then," he smirked as he swung a leather bag of weapons over his shoulder.

By the time the three of them caught up with Peeta and Clematis in the woods not too far from where they'd been out in the open --because they needed to be concealed but still be able to assess danger--, the redhead was crushing a bunch of nightlock berries into a smooth pulp, and Peeta was just standing idly by, watching her motions.

Clove came to a halt first, promptly followed by Katniss and Cato, and simply stared at Peeta with a slightly confused frown. Katniss watched her fingers curl tighter around the straps of the backpack she had on her back and then move towards Clematis swiftly before kneeling down next to the District Five girl. Cato silently handed Peeta an axe, face grim, and joined the pair of girls. Katniss observed her district partner for a moment. He stared down at the axe in his hands fixedly, as if it were an object not only foreign to his body, but also foreign to his comprehensive skills --as if it would never occur to him to actually use the weapon to take a life. There was a faint vertical line marring the smooth skin between his eyebrows as his eyes ran across the sharp blade of the axe, and then his gaze rose to meet the taller brunette's, "Katniss, I-"

"No, shh," she rushed over to him and pressed a finger against his lips, "I know you don't want them to change you, and I know you don't want to use that axe on anyone, but today, you will probably _need_ to," she explained firmly, "just know that you _don't have_ to."

Peeta simply looked at her silently for a second, and Katniss got the impression that he hadn't grasped the implicit concept of: use the axe or _die_ , but she didn't speak further regardless. Instead, she noticed that what had previously been mere buzzing was now becoming increasingly louder, the clear sound of an engine powered vehicle approaching, so she shifted towards the trio huddled a few feet nearby.

Both Cato and Clove stood up, holding their weapons of choice, smirking, instantly followed by Clematis, who held her head high, evidently pleased with herself about something.

"What is it?" Katniss inquired curiously, feeling slightly out of the loop as she didn't really see anything different in any of the three teenagers standing before her. The redhead stepped forward confidently, holding a heap of oddly colored leaves that seemed to be smeared with something.

"Here," Clematis began as she offered the leaves to the taller brunette, "you should spread this over the tips of your arrows," she advised calmly despite the nearing sounds, and upon seeing Katniss frown, Cato spoke up, "It's nightlock ointment. If your arrow isn't a kill shot, it'll still spread this into their bloodstream, and they'll be dead anyway," he explained as he showed Katniss the now slippery edge of his sword.

Momentarily thrown off balance, Katniss took the proffered leaves and rather absently began applying the substance on her arrows in haste. There was no time to waste. What had been mere humming before had now become the stark droning of a motor and helixes, and the foliage above their heads started ruffling and waving softly, signaling the imminent arrival of the hovercraft. Katniss shook herself out of her stupor and climbed the nearest tree while everyone else scattered about the nearby terrain to take their positions --they were _not_ going to be taken out all at once.

The District Twelve girl took the briefest of moments to survey the area surrounding the trunk of the tree: Peeta was closest to the open spot, ready to knock out whoever came closer first; Clematis was behind the tree, keeping their supplies safe --Katniss _knew_ that she had to be there because it was the surest way to keep her out of danger since she was considerably defenseless to physical attacks--; Cato was farther away, huddled behind a set of shrubs, eyes steely with determination and jaw set tight, sword glinting off stray sun rays that filtered through the canopy; and Clove was actually the closest to the tree Katniss was perched on, just a couple of feet away and half concealed by the thick log, yet ready to send a knife swooshing through the air in a heartbeat.

It wasn't much of a strategy, but it was _something_. And Katniss hoped for her own sake and for all of theirs that it worked out. Something irked her, though, and she fidgeted on her branch while she tried to put her finger on what.

It was then that it hit her. The _noise_. Something about the noise wasn't right. She had avoided and sought hiding from hovercrafts in the woods with Gale too many times not to know _exactly_ what hovercrafts flying right above her head sounded like, and there was definitely something _off_ about the off-beat roaring this one was producing. She knew there wasn't enough time to sort out whatever the issue was with the piece of aircraft, since the loud droning had become progressively deafening as the proximity of the hovercraft blew random strands of hair back and forth across her forehead, roughly disturbing the stillness of the leaves and branches around her.

She held her bow firmly at arm's length, her other arm bent backwards to pull out an arrow at a moment's notice, and amidst the frozen chaos around her, she barely distinguished Clematis's voice drifting through the distance between them with difficulty, barely reaching her ears. She turned around to listen to the redhead --really, the incoherent roaring of the hovercraft turbines was practically ear-splitting--, and struggled to read the District Five girl's lips but to no avail.

"Katniss!" Clematis shouted once more, arms wrapped tightly around the three backpacks laid down on the ground before her, and the brunette focused on the sound of her voice --an oddly soothing melody to contrast the hovercraft above them-- and managed to make out her words, "I _cracked_ it!" Clematis went on almost excitedly, and Katniss was sure that the redhead's heart was beating in her chest furiously in unison with her own.

"I figured out the _code_!" the redhead yelled, eyes now narrowed as the force of the unnatural wind blown on her face dried them, and Katniss saw Clove turn to the pair of them attentively --although she was sure that the younger brunette was definitely still alert to any foreign movement or signs of threat. "It wasn't about the story. It was an _anagram_ ; an anagram for _riots_!" Clematis grinned despite the seconds ticking by as if in slow motion as the sunlight was blocked completely by the hovercraft flying low almost directly above them, casting an overreaching shadow over the whole area, "There have been riots in several districts! We are going to get help!"

Katniss merely blinked in shock, eyes wide as they met Clove's right beneath her, and she was sure the expression on her own face was identically mirrored in the shorter brunette's. She knew that Clove had just figured out the same thing she and Clematis just had: they could get out of the arena.

"The rebellion's already begun," Katniss whispered to herself, gaze cast upwards just in time to notice the incongruous black smoke drifting off a large turbine in irregular patterns. It the insufficient second she had to observe the tributes around her and assess her possibilities of keeping any of them away from harm, she was disheartened to realize that her chances of succeeding in doing so were slim.

Cato was by himself, surrounded by bushes; Peeta was too far away from her reach, and even from everyone else's; Clematis was behind her, also quite far, although she'd be more easily protected by her increased distance to them all; and Clove--well, Clove was the _only_ one close enough to Katniss, since she was practically right below her, but also probably the most susceptible to a bullet or missile. There was no time to think or choose, only time to _act_ ; so Katniss did the only thing she could: she screamed.

"It's going to crash!" she yelled in warning from atop the tree, and promptly jumped off. During her fall, she saw a few things going around her as if in slow motion: she saw Clematis vanish behind her with a dark flash, she saw the sun and the clouds and she sky be eclipsed by the hovercraft, she saw Clove's eyes widen in terror as her features became closer to her own.

And then all she saw was _black_.


End file.
